"Except for a small amount that's been incinerated, every bit of plastic manufactured in the world for the last 50 years or so still remains. It's somewhere in the environment" (Tony Andrady) Plastics were developed for elasticity, versatility (they can either sink or float), near invisibility in water, durability, and superior strength and those are the very reason why they are a problem.

 

Many would be surprised to know that the largest landfill is actually in the Pacific Ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is actually two large masses of ever-accumulating trash called the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. The Eastern Garbage Patch is estimated as two times bigger than Texas and calculated to be over 3 million tons of plastic. Each swirling mass of refuse is massive and collects trash from all over the world.

 

 

The main problem with plastic -- besides there being so much of it -- is that it doesn't biodegrade. No natural process can break it down. Instead, plastic photodegrades breaking into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic without breaking into simpler compounds. 

 

Burning plastic or other man-made materials creates dioxin and other dangerous toxics in the air, soil & groundwater. This endangers the community. Children, teenagers & pregnant women are at the highest risk. The resulting ash is also toxic and can easily get into the ground and well water.

 

The garbage patches present numerous hazards to marine life, fishing and tourism. Plastic constitutes 90% of all trash floating in the world's oceans. The United Nations Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean hosts 46,000 pieces of floating plastic. Of the more than 200 billion pounds of plastic the world produces each year, about 10% ends up in the ocean.